* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: ** As forgettable as most of the music is in the series, there are a few fan-favorite songs. Most notable is the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_aMmpG9LPU final stage of the first ''Raiden Fighters'']], unofficially titled "[[EarWorm Invade Your Mind]]". Sadly, its official title is just "Fort(ress) Stage".** Subverted with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0YvV9vtXOo the music]] for Simulation Levels 35 and 50 in ''Jet'', because while the track itself is awesome, the situation it's played in is ''not'' awesome (specifically, [[NoFinalBossForYou you just screwed yourself out of the two Real Battle stages]]).* DemonicSpiders: [[FanNickname Sniper Tanks]]* EvenBetterSequel: ''Raiden Fighters 2'' and ''Raiden Fighters Jet''.* GameBreaker: The Slave ship, with its tiny hitbox and incredible firepower, is the ship of choice for the high score leaderboards everywhere.** Some consider the Judge Spear itself to be a Game Breaker. Fully power it up and give it a Slave formation that makes up for its lack of defensive spread, and you can easily tear through large enemies (and earn QUICK SHOT! bonuses that most other ships would find impossible to earn) and bring down bosses in very little time. *** Better yet, Judge Spear Slave, so that the Slave with its high damage and and small hitbox inherits the Judge Spear's ridiculously powerful bomb and fast movement speed.* GoodBadBugs: The Fairy in the second entry is still able to graze and fire while firing her flamethrower bomb. Some players exploit this for extra points or take advantage of the long invincibility time. This got nerfed with reduced power and duration in ''Jet'', naturally.* MemeticMutation: "Falsificare," a shmup lingo term born of a {{troll}}'s comments (and the ensuing responses) claiming that ''Raiden Fighters Aces''[='=]s 100,000,000-point achievement is [[BadExportForYou impossible to obtain in the US version]], [[WhatAnIdiot never mind replays of US version players proving otherwise]].** Said troll has made so many attempts at preaching their case in different sites, you could make a drinking game out of it. Heck, it'd be simpler to list where they haven't posted yet.* ScrappyMechanic: [[ScoringPoints Goddamned]] [[GuideDangIt Micluses!]]* SoCoolItsAwesome* ThatOneBoss: ''Jet'' has several. Red Eye, the final boss of the second game, reappears as the final boss of the neutral stage path, and difficult as it was in the second game. Most notorious is the [[BeefGate first boss of Phase 2]], which is a giant tank that moves extremely fast, floods the screen with very slow bullets, and fires off almost undodgeable bullet spam if you destroy its forms at the wrong time.* TierInducedScrappy: Raiden mk-II and Raiden mk-II Beta. The former is more infuriating by being ''slower than in the ''Raiden'' series.'' The Beta is faster, but has a very crappy Bomb and no rapid-firing capabilities.** The Endeavor in the first game fits this trope to a T. Sure it has an instant-charge Laser special and the only subweapon that can absorb enemy fire, but its main gun has a very low rate of fire and its Laser weapon does not cover the front of the craft.*** On that last note, however, it should be noted that it allows the player to avoid enemies that project heavy firepower to their direct rear (and there are quite a few of them that do so).*** The developers probably realized how much the Endeavor was [[{{TheScrappy}} reviled in general]] that, in a cameo appearance in ''Raiden Fighters 2'', enemy tanks '''refused to run over a bunch of them''' sitting on an airstrip.